Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Swamp Trip!

All of a sudden, I'm off to see the great Okefenokee Swamp, courtesy of kmom and kdad.

I just adore swamps. I am SO thrilled! This one in particular, a place I've dreamed of seeing since I was a child. Finally, it's on. I've never been there before.

I was hoping to post some nice garden pix, and Part 2 of Walter's story, before setting out on the drive. But, no...instead, busily maintaining my rep as the World's Worst Slowpoke, I'm just leaving the house now. It's a five hour drive. Walter said, as long as I get there before the morning, I'm good.

No stress. I like that. Coming home to a clean house is very nice too.

The hotel has free wireless, and kmom has her laptop, so I may be able to update everyone tomorrow. Till then -

If you went up US1 after you left Jax, you passed within a mile of my house!!! Also, did you know that the Okefenokee Swamp is where the Suwanee River begins? I love that place. Hope you went on one of the boat tours.

Oh, SeaPhoenix, it was FABULOUS! And if you drive here from Kentucky, I bet you could drive right by it.

So next time you're seized with a desire to drive to the Panhandle for a visit, you can add a swamp trip right on in there! See how easy?

Keesie, do I have Swamp Monster pix for you! So very handsome, too.

Miss Kat, I was almost surprised you'd never been there. But you know something? Sometimes the things we don't visit are the ones in our own back yard. There are loads of great Florida places I haven't seen, for that very reason.

I took lots and lots of swamp pix and I'll post them soon - probably after Walter leaves (tomorrow morning.) I bet your kids would love to visit there one day. It's not expensive, and it's the sort of thing you can surf up on the net first, to learn about it and get the kids intrigued.

Pepek, I sure do remember Pogo. I grew up reading it. In fact, Pogo was the reason I got interested in the Okefenokee in the first place! That's why I said I've wanted to go there my whole life. In our family was all love comics, and Dad explained about Pogo and the Okefenokee when we were little bitty kids.

So now you see why I say this was a trip of a lifetime for me.

Nancy, thank you - and boy oh boy did we EVER have fun. I'm still a bit giddy over it.

Pretty Lady, to my everlasting regret, they weren't ripe yet. Nothing was. Leaving Florida, we left both the near-tropics around my house, and the sub-tropics of the rest of the state. They have an actual winter up there, and don't grow a thing during it! Hmph.

John, interesting question. And very perceptive. There may have been some...but our first boat tour guide, who knew that swamp like nobody's business, did not know the answer when I asked him that question. I may surf it a bit to see.

If they do, it could be terrestrial ones rather than the epiphytes I grow on the side of trees and things. I have very few *ground* orchids, although the ones I have are finally doing well.

In colder areas, like Chicagoland, the orchids are all terrestrial. Since there is a winter in the Okefenokee (certainly not on a par with Chicago's!!!) I'm guessing any orchids would be ground orchids there.

DC, please forgive me for taking so long to post! You'll see why when you read the next one.

I'll have my mice swamp post up soon, though.

Aspergantus, I took US 1 from Waycross, GA to I-295 in Jax. So if you mean north of Jax, then I was indeed on US 1 and would have waved you HI!!! if I'd known.

But I took I-295 to I-95 to make it home. And things being what they were...I wasn't doing the scenic route by then. (More to follow, on that...)

The swamp was everything I'd hoped for. We took not one but two boat tours, east and west entrance, and heard all about the water system and the Suwanee and St. Mary headwaters. We had an incredibly great captain on the first boat, and a very good one on the second. So we got scads of good info, plus very entertaining company on both boat trips.

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About Me

I'm a nice quiet middle-aged former bankbuster, disabled since age 32 with a myriad of weird health issues. I love heat and humidity and odd hobbies like fossil hunting, tromping around in the Everglades, backyard bricklaying, and rescuing plants damaged by our spate of hurricanes. Oh - I like to live-blog hurricanes, too.*****
I have a wonderful life. I'm one of the happiest people I know. Why? I don't know.*****
I also have nightmare memories in my head that would send some folks around the bend. But that's another story, one I don't tell much, and I seem to have made it past the horror parts pretty well.*****
I have nothing to prove so it's hard to insult me. I know who I am. I own the space I live in - and I don't mean just my house. My life is way far from perfect, but I'm content.*****
For some readers, that would make this a boring blog. For others, my fun adventures, absurd health episodes, and particular way of looking at things keep 'em entertained enough, in the end.